Most liked posts in thread: The Phoenix - The GP Roadster Project

This morning, got the windshield trim and wipers back on. Good to go.

One thing I noticed, is that something about the lines on this car make the windshield look more sloped (to me) than what I remember the old car looking like. I know it isn't, just a visual thing.



Spent the rest of the day organizing the garage, making space to move over stuff from the OTHER garage, so I can sort all that.

First, hung up my 12 wheel dollies. Because that's how many it takes when you have three non-running MINIs to push around.



While standing on the 8ft ladder, I happened to glance down and realized this was a pretty cool view. So I took a pic.



While sorting things out, I decided to put my rubber mats and my GP mats in the car, on top of the diamond plate mats. Just to get them out of the way. First time I've had the GP mats in the car. Sexy.



Found another treasure that Stephen at eMINIparts.com had included in a parts box, at some point.



Finally, an open space...



Of course, it had to go somewhere...


But at least all the stuff in those boxes is sorted and ready to do something with, now.

This week, when I'm not working, I may play around with prototyping a tonneau cover for the rear... stay tuned...

 

I just realized how noticeable the added caster is, in this pic.



Yummy caster goodness.

Well, probably not really. Since the hub is in the same place. But it LOOKS farther forward...

 

Spent a few hours today fiddling with stuff.

Installed my helmet hook. Because, Racecar.


I have a steering wheel hook also, but I'll wait until I get the Momo QR wheel to figure out placement for that.

Then I installed the brackets that will ultimately hold the tie-downs for the rear of the bikini top.



Then I figured, "hey, I may as well work on the top a bit"

So I spent some time fitting the old cabrio sunroof panel to use as the structure for the front of the new top.



Sits on the cage at the perfect position and angle, like it was designed to do so. Because it was.



I bought some upholstery vinyl to prototype the tonneau cover. Figured I stretch that on, just to see what it looked like...





I likey... more to come on that.

Then decided to play with the tonneau a bit.



Oh, what the hell, let's play some more. I plan to have the final one made from the same black multilayer material that the OEM convertible top uses. But I'll build a proper prototype in vinyl first, and may run it for a while for testing.

The OEM convertible top attached to the rear structural bow. The bow has a slot near the top of the outer face. The top had a plastic or nylon spline sewn into a pocket. That slid into the slot to hold it in place. My tonneau design uses the same attachment method.

Just happened to have some nylon tubing exactly the right diameter, left over from my methanol kit. Marked the material in the shape of the bow, then cut it and loosely stitched in the spline.



Then slid it into place. Not easy, because it's designed to be both snug in the slot and taut on the frame, but it worked.



Installed the box back onto the car...


Flips open, like the OEM top.


The OEM beltline trim, weatherstrip and 3rd brake light install just like with the OEM top. Weatherstrip provides a seal against the tonneau, like it was made to work that way...


Decided how I wanted to slit the tonneau around the cage, and cut away! Stretched it into position, and just taped it together and to the cage, temporarily, to mock it up. Later I'll add proper flaps over the slits, and straps to cinch it tight to the cage.

Me likey....



It's exactly the way I had envisioned it...

 

I spent about 4-5 hours on the tonneau today, plus an hour fitting the top panel (it has cutouts to accommodate the roll cage, and had to straighten it out some from the crash). The time on the tonneau included one more attempt to get the bend in the rear top bow correct, first.

 

More work on the tonneau today.

After confirming that I could get our sewing machine to actually sew this stuff, I pulled it back off the car, and practiced my mad sewing skillz.



Hemmed the edges, sewed a pocket at the front edge to hold a tube to stiffen and stretch it, made some flaps to cover the three slits, sewed them into place, and added some velcro to hold them shut. Didn't worry too much about making it pretty, just shooting for functional right now... it's a prototype.

Done!



Back on the car...



Still need to figure out how to stretch or hold down the "wings" on the sides, but otherwise it's just about perfect.

Yesterday, it was 25 degrees and sleeting. Today, 60 and sunny. So, time to test it. Worked! And didn't come off at speed. Significantly less buffeting and wind noise. And looks good.





Really nice day. The car drives sooooooo much better with summer wheels and tires, and with more brake pad bite. I'm starting to finally get a feel for it... but am being pretty careful, still.

Just can't stop doing stuff... so I reinstalled my rear fog brake light mod after I got home.



Also figured out an approach for fastening the sides. I'll see how that holds up tomorrow.